Sprint Summer Showdown: The Finale

Five lucky NASCAR fans will enjoy the Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway a little bit more on Sunday evening.

That's because one of them - Andrea Gay (Voorhess, NJ), Helene Cross (Kansas City, MO), Ron Rempinski (St. Charles, MO), Dana Hardie (Laurel Hill, NC), and Molly Hilyard (Sidney, OH) could win $1 million if their driver wins the Advocare 500.

Sunday is the payoff race for the Sprint Summer Showdown presented by Sprint HTC EVO 3D, a six-race series promotion that carries a $3 million bonus for the winner, including the race purse.

Should one of the qualifying drivers - Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch or Marcos Ambrose - win the Advocare 500, they will receive a $1 million. Their favorite charity will win $1 million. And the lucky fan will win $1 million.

Gay was among the lucky fans who picked Menard to win the Brickyard 400; Cross checked Keselowski to win at Pocono; Rempinski selected Ambrose to win at Watkins Glen; Hardie scored when Busch took the checkered at Michigan; Hilyard completed the final give with a Keselowski win at Bristol Motor Speedway.

According to contest rules, if Keselowski wins at Atlanta this weekend, then Cross and Hilyard would split the $1 million Showdown prize.

In a release from RPM, Marcos Ambrose said, "I just want to get to victory lane again. The fans out there who have supported Richard Petty and this whole team through the turmoil last year, I can't thank them enough."

Sunday will mark Ambrose's sixth career start at Atlanta in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He has one top-10 finish at the track.

Busch is the only driver qualified for the Showdown to have a win at Atlanta. In this race last year, Busch finished fifth.

"When Sprint announced the bonus for the Showdown, all of us got excited and we're pretty pumped about it," Busch said in a press release. "It's a neat opportunity for us to have something to really shoot for and to go out there and try to win the race for it. Ultimately, we still have to be smart and play it out as we would any other week.

"For us, it's a great to be in position - that's why we've been trying to win so bad the last couple of weeks is to get the opportunity to go to for it. Now that we've won Michigan and we have the opportunity, certainly we want to put all of our eggs in that basket and try to win that night."

Driver No. 2, Brad Keselowski, enters the Advocare 500 as the hottest driver, having two wins in the last five races, as well as second-, third- and ninth-place finishes.

His Penske Racing Dodge, which has carried a special tagline on the rear bumper each race weekend, will note his participation in the Sprint program this week as well.

According to the Penske news release, the line will read, "3 Million Reasons to 'Man Up.'"
Sprint Summer Showdown: The Finale Sprint Summer Showdown: The Finale Reviewed by Kristin Weaver on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Rating: 5